By: Daniel McElroy

Grup Yorum in Ankara protesting a decision to ban their concerts. Photo: Basin Foto Ajansi/LightRocket via Getty Images

Grup Yorum, a Turkish folk band formed in 1987 by a collective of politically-minded university students, has been an ever-present voice of resistance and change in Turkey for over 30 years. Now, with 11 of its members in prison since mid-2017, the group is not backing down. In fact, Grup Yorum—intent on bringing its overt political messages about the state of Turkey abroad—plans to hold concerts across Europe this year.

Featuring a constantly changing lineup anywhere from a few musicians in traditional dress to full choirs and orchestras, Grup Yorum (‘Yorum’ means ‘comment’) and its folk music played on traditional Turkish instruments might not at first seem threatening to President Erdogan’s repressive authoritarian regime. And yet, they are. Traditional sounding songs mask lyrics that educate and retaliate. From anthems criticizing the government’s anti-poor policies (like demolishing poor neighborhoods to build expensive skyscrapers) to ballads that commemorate the history of Turkish protest, “every song has a meaning behind it,” according to one of the group’s volunteers, who helps organize its travelling concerts.

In Grup Yorum’s long history—with over 20 albums released—the group has addressed almost every provocative subject possible for a country that has been struggling for political stability as long as it’s been making music. Professing support for Kurdish rights (they sometimes sing in Kurdish), anti-authoritarianism, and Marxism, the group and its supporters have long seen music and performance as an important way towards political change.

While censorship of concerts, torture in custody, and travel restrictions on group members have plagued Grup Yorum almost since its beginning, Erdogan’s government has ramped up attacks on their freedom in recent years. Accusing them of membership in the militant Marxist DHKP-C—which Turkey, the U.S. and the EU all consider to be a terrorist organization—the government has raided the band’s Istanbul community center headquarters several times since 2016. The connection is easily understood as Grup Yorum has indeed sung its support for the DHKP-C many times over the years, but no links from the raids have yielded any links between the music group and the DHKP-C itself.

Two years ago, one of these raids ended in the destruction of Grup Yorum’s instruments. Now, their newest album İlle Kavga (‘Struggle No Matter What’) pictures these very instruments, and a video on YouTube shows the group playing a song written to make use of whatever functionality the broken instruments had left.

The initial raids just following the coup in summer 2016 resulted in the arrest and short detention of seven of the group’s members. A second round of arrests a year later, during the summer of 2017, led to the arrest of 11 musicians, who remain detained almost a year later with no trial or access to justice. As of December 2017 the 11 detained members had no coats or winter clothes, nor did they have a trial date.

It’s a far cry from Grup Yorum’s 30th anniversary concert in 2015, which was originally cancelled by the Governor’s Office but was quickly ordered to proceed after the group lodged an appeal in the Istanbul courts. Today, given that the 2016 coup attempt led to the dismissal of thousands of judges across Turkey, the justice system remains decimated and hardly functioning, so arbitrary detention and baseless charges are not easily fought.

And yet, Grup Yorum continues performing; they are determined to keep alive the spirit of resistance and activism that they’ve maintained for three decades. Says the volunteer:  “They’re used to what’s happening in Turkey. They see themselves as the voice of the voiceless.”